Upgrade advice please!

The Old Man

The Old Man

The Old Man

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Joined
14 Apr 2004
Posts
267
Location
UK
Hi all,
I'm thinking its time for some upgrades given that my PC strugges with COD2 with everything on at 1280x1024. I last upgraded it for HalfLife2 and it played it with everything on full at 1280x1024, super smooth. I didn't play another game due to web design commitments until Call of Duty 2 and I was amazed how it struggled and quite disspaointed with my system as a result.

I have 2 PC's, the second one is usually made up of my 'cast off's' for my son to play on so I'm not sure what to buy and and what to pass on to him.

Current systems:

System One

AMD64 3200 CPU (using 5% overclock motherboard option)
2GB (2x1GB sticks) Crucial DDR400 RAM
Nvidia Geforce 6800GT 256MB AGP (running at 400Mhz/1Ghz)
Asus A8V Deluxe
Antec 480w PSU
160GB SATA HDD
17" AG F-417 TFT
Creative Soundblaster Live Player
WinXP


System 2

AMD Mobile XP2000 CPU running at 2.4Ghz (remember that wierd one everyone was after?)
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
1GB Crucial DDR400
120GB SATA HDD
Onboard Sound
Antec 430w PSU
Nvidia FX5900 128MB AGP
15" CTX TFT Monitor (1024x768)
WinXP

I know if I upgrade the graphics card I need to go for PCI-Express this time which would mean a new motherboard. I'd like a X2 Dual Core CPU, not sure about which graphics card to go for. I want an improvement on the 6800GT but can't go over the top on price and I want to play games in the next 12 months at top quality and smooth framerate. I want to stick with Nvidia. By porting some components over to my sons PC, hopefully we'll both get a boost. I want to keep the monitors.

Do you have any advice on which OCUK products to go for? Is it a good time to buy, are there any price drops expected soon?

I'd be grateful for some options. One suggestion here would be a maintained list of the top 5 graphics cards and motherboards so it would be easier to choose!

Many thanks.
 
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You didn't spec a budget so I've gone for Value/performance which will last you a good time. This is basically my PC - except for I have a 512MB X1800XT. I don't believe at your res having 256MB will be a problem. Some people think the MVP mobo is poor, it's not.. it's the later version that has the trouble. The origonal is a solid little board, it only really hit problems with hard core, high core voltage, overclockers. I like it a lot and of course has EXCELLENT sound so no need for a sound card.

MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£64.95 £64.95
CP-134-AM AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£183.95 £183.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£94.95 £94.95
GX-121-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-121-SP)
£144.95 £144.95
CA-007-TG Tagan TG430-U15 430W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-007-TG)
£52.95 £52.95
Subtotal £541.75
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.95
VAT £96.38
Total £647.08
 
I think he's saying he wants just CPU, mobo, and graphics. Oldman you really need to set a budget as that would help people spec you more easily.

If you're just looking for an improvement in games then you're probably best sticking with your current CPU and spending the extra on a quality graphics card (unless you have the money for both, in which case go dual core). I really have no clue what the best PCI-e mobos are at the moment, but graphics wise the X1800XT specced above is a very good card for the price. If you want something better then you'll need to spend around £300 on a X1900XT or 7900GTX.
 
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

I apologise for not setting a budget, I supose its because I don't yet have one and was wondering which parts I need to get rid of. Looking at me post, I can see it helps to write down what you have. I think £500-£600 at most.
I really want to stick with Nvidia if possible, in the past I've found ATI cards always played compatibilty catch-up through game patches (Medal of Honor) although this may have changed (and the drivers were always ropey). I've found *** Nvidia cards do exactly what they say on the tin.
The 7900GTX is out of my price range this time. I was thinking about £250 mark for the graphics card which is about what the 6800GT cost me 2 years ago, from OCUK of course!

I could keep the RAM and hopefully the PSU's/ Chieftec Dragon cases etc.
So maybe a new mobo, dual core cpu and a £250 card but would it offer more performance than the 6800GT I have already? Or maybe your suggestion about keeping what I have and buying a 7900GTX but this means locking myself into the AGP side of things for another 2 years.
 
ATI are VERY good these days, no problems with drivers and only one game I know of underperforms with ATI.. and that may be patched now ( B&W2).

I went for PSU as a precaution but also becuase your son will need yours if he has your mobo/cpu/graphics.

You could go 7900GT but the X1800XT performs as well and is cheaper.
 
Interesting, thanks. Shame about the PSU. I'd thought I'd be okay with those for a while. I'll take a look at both of those cards, see if I can find some comparisons.

Thanks for the advice. Does anyone know which AMD dual core compatible motherboard is best at the moment (besides the ATI based one mentioned above)? I don't need SLI but if they all have it these days , its no problem.
 
Best is a bit subjective these days, NF4 based mobo's ( for what you want any from Asus, MSI, DFI, Abit ) are most popular around here. I prefer the Asus because it worked straight off which my dual core CPU ( I had problems with the abit NF4 Fatality board and dual core ), is passively cooled, and has excellent sound.
 
Asus and DFI mobos are all generally pretty good so its quite hard to go wrong in this regard.

Also if you want a very good guide on GFX cards, get the newest issue of CustomPC. Has a massive round up of loads of graphics cards from 30 quid to 500 quid lol. Helped me make up my mind on what GFX to go for :)

Just find one within your budget and see how it performs.

SiriusB
 
Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated.

I've always bought Asus boards in the past and ofund them to be excellent, but I wondered if there was a better one about these days.
 
asus mobos are stable but not good when it comes to overclocking....

the msi keo plat is going for around £76 which is good for overclocking however the DFI mobos are the best overclockers....look in the "b" grade section you may get a good deal which would free up more cash for cpu and gfx card....

what res do you game at? Im guessing 1280 x 1024 a 256mb gfx card will suffice for another 12 - 16months if you want to run games at max settings however this time next year you may find urself looking for a 512mb gfx card....take this into consideration....

CPU wise you can go for the 3800+ however the opty 165 or opty 170 would be a great buy for you especially if you overclock as they overclock to good speeds...however CHECK THE STEPPING first....
 
I nearer buying now and have been looking again the components available. I was going to go for the new AM2 platform but my God, the DDR2 ram is twice the price of DDR so I'm going to keep my 2GB of Crucial DDR400.

Here's what I've come up with and I'd appreciate your thoughts!

1 NZXT Lexa Classic Series Ultra light Aluminum Midtower (CA-000-NX) £88.07 £88.07
1 Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS) £66.92 £66.92
1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4200BVBOX) (CP-126-AM) £246.69 £246.69
1 OcUK GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-038-OK) £317.19 £317.19
2 Akasa Serial ATA 45cm DAYGLO Blue Data Cable (CB-001-AK) £3.47 £6.94
2 Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 160GB 6V160E0 SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-091-MD) £44.65 £89.30
1 Akasa AK-178-UV 12" Cold Cathode - Ultra-Violet (CM-011-GE) £8.58 £8.58


Total plus shipping: £823.69

I've copied this from Excel so I hope it posts better than it looks as I type!

Going from the AMD64 3200 to the dual 4200 should be a reasonable boost right?

I'm killing myself with the graphics card but what the hell! This is a rebadged OCUK model I assume, reference board? I have a 1280x1024 display and won't need to play at higher levels but want smooth gameplay in COD2 at this resolution with everything on. My current 6800GT almost manages this but not quite, I have to AA down a little. So I'm hoping to see a great difference in speed given the price and the fact I'm switching to dual core CPU.

I want to stick with Nvida rather than ATI, I don't want SLI and can't see any need for it in the next 2 years for me, so the mobo I found keeps the cost down from the £120-£140 models. Asus has never let me down so I'll stick with them plus I'm not into overclocking and extra cooling, well just a little overclocking?

I've never done RAID, so I'm going to give it a go. My current 160GB Hitachi is about a quarter full so I don't need any bigger than 160GB capacity for a while yet which keeps the cost down. I'm planning the version of RAID which is aimed at performance rather than creating a real-time backup (RAID 1?) so in using Dreamweaver and playing COD2 I'm hoping to see a speed increase. Is it with going the RAID option and buying the 2 new drives or should I stick with SATA? If I go with RAID I'll plan on regular backups to an external HDD of My Documents.

I fancy a new case and love that one. Have I chosen the right UV kit to show of the UV SATA cables? Never bought UV stuff before!

My Antec True Power 480w will have to go to my sons PC, can you recommend an inexpensive replacment PSU for the system above plus my internal DVD-RW?

Thanks for any advice, its more than I was going to spend but want to stick with Asus, AMD and Nvida but get myself a dual core.
 
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